Harry Reid Blocks Jobs Bill, Obama Blames Republicans

Whenever President Obama points his finger to blame someone for something, assume it isn’t true, or it’s a distortion of the truth. While it’s true that Republican leader Eric Cantor said Obama’s jobs bill didn’t have a spitball’s chance in hell (to paraphrase) of passing in the House, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called for unanimous consent to proceed to vote on the bill. It was the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Democrat, who blocked a vote.

Reid used a procedural maneuver called “filling the tree,” which allows the majority leader to say a piece of legislation has had all of its possibilities for amendments.

McConnell had tried to offer the president’s job package as an amendment to the China currency legislation, which was being debated in chamber. By “filling the tree,” Reid blocked that move.

“What I am trying to do here today by requesting this vote on the president’s jobs bill … is to honor the request of the president of the United States that we vote on it now,” McConnell said. “He has been asking us repeatedly over the last few weeks that we vote on it now.”

“I think the president of the United States, whose polices I generally do not support … is entitled to know where the Senate stands on his proposal that he has been out talking about … and suggesting that we are unwilling to vote on it,” he said.

Reid called McConnell’s request a “political stunt” and “senseless.”

“What a charade we have going on here,” Reid said. “[W]e now have a proposal that is ridiculous on its face … that is that we vote with no debate on the president’s jobs bill.”

Charade? What charade? How is calling for a vote on a bill the president has been demanding Congress vote on right away a charade? Could it be Harry Reid was worried that the Democrats don’t have the votes to pass it?

President Obama is in Dallas today urging Americans who support the American Jobs Act to demand that Congress pass it already.

Though it’s been nearly a month since he laid out this plan, House Republicans haven’t acted to pass it. And House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is out there actually bragging that they won’t even put the jobs package up for a vote — ever.

It’s not clear which part of the bill they now object to: building roads, hiring teachers, getting veterans back to work. They’re willing to block the American Jobs Act — and they think you won’t do anything about it.

But here’s something you can do: Find Republican members of Congress on Twitter, call them out, and demand they pass this bill.

[…] The Lonely Conservative adds: Charade? What charade? How is calling for a vote on a bill the president has been demanding Congress vote on right away a charade? Could it be Harry Reid was worried that the Democrats don’t have the votes to pass it? […]